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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B vs DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp

Too close to call on our weighted score (Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B 71, DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp 70). The right pick depends on what you value most.

  1. NVIDIA

    Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B

    Released Aug 11, 2026

    71/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.05 / $0.20
    • Context262K
  2. DeepSeek

    DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp

    Released Aug 21, 2026

    70/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.216 / $0.647
    • Context1M
  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Too close to call

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 1 points (Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B 71/100, DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp 70/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B on price and DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp for long inputs. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.

  • CapabilityNot enough dataNo independent benchmark covers every model here yet
  • Lowest priceNemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3BNemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B $0.087 · DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp $0.323 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextDeepSeek V4 Flash Vision ExpDeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp 1,000,000 · Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B 262,144 tokens
  • Widest inputsDeepSeek V4 Flash Vision ExpNemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B: Text · DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
How the score is built
MeasureWeightNemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3BDeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp
Price50%10073
Inputs & features30%4570
Context window20%3760
Overall100%71/10070/100

Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.

02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.

Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B vs DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp specifications side by side
SpecificationNemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3BNVIDIADeepSeek V4 Flash Vision ExpDeepSeek
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)——
ECI rank——
Price per million tokens
Input$0.05 (best)$0.216
Output$0.20 (best)$0.647
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$0.087 (best)$0.323
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 9 providersMedian of 15 providers
Limits
Context window262,144 tokens1,000,000 tokens (best)
Max output262,144 tokens384,000 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoYes
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningYesYes
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputYesYes
Availability
WeightsOpenOpenMIT
API model IDnvidia/nemotron-3.5-lightning-30b-a3b—
API providers1215 (best)
ReleasedAug 11, 2026Aug 21, 2026
Knowledge cutoff——
03 — Cost

What would a month cost?

Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.

  • Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B$0.90
  • DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp$3.45
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B or DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp?

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 1 points (Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B 71/100, DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp 70/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B on price and DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp for long inputs. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.

Which is cheaper, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B or DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp?

Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B is cheaper at $0.05 input / $0.20 output per million tokens (median across 9 API providers; free on Nvidia). DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp costs $0.216 input / $0.647 output per million tokens (median across 15 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.087 per million tokens for Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B versus $0.323 for DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp (3.7× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B has not been scored yet and DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B and DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Both support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp has the largest context window at 1,000,000 tokens, against 262,144 for Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B. Maximum output per response: Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B up to 262,144, DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp up to 384,000 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B accepts text; DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp accepts text and images. DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Yes, both publish their weights (MIT), so you can self-host them.

Which is newer?

DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp is the newest, released Aug 21, 2026. Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B came out Aug 11, 2026.

How do you decide the winner?

Each model gets a 0–100 score on capability (50%, independent benchmark results); price (25%, blended price per million tokens (3 input : 1 output), log scale); inputs & features (15%, image, PDF, audio and video input, tool calling, structured output and reasoning); context window (10%, maximum tokens per request, log scale). Dimensions missing for any model are dropped and the remaining weights rescaled, so every model is judged on the same evidence. Specs and prices come from public model listings and the labs’ own API pages; capability scores come from independent benchmark runs. Data updated Oct 4, 2026.